Share files on your local network with Nearshare.net

So you want to send your colleague some MP3s. Problem is, your company discourages file sharing. They don't let you install Allpeers or Pando, and they most definitely don't let you open up directories on your hard drive.

Enter Nearshare.net. This website is hosting a Java applet that makes it possible to share selected files on your local network. Just point two computers on the same subnet to Nearshare.net, allow the site to run the applet - and you are ready to go.

Nearshare.net also offers the ability to limit the number of downloads of the file in question, so you don't have to worry about accidentally leaving the page open and having your creepy cubicle neighbour browse your files during lunch break. Once the file is downloaded one, two or three times it's not available anymore.

Nearshare.net is in something of a perpetual alpha stage since late 2005, and somewhere along the line the site's icon set broke, making the whole thing a bit of an eyesore. It also has some ressource issues, so you better don't write blog posts within Firefox while you are sharing files like I did.

It's nevertheless quite useful, especially in restrictive company or college environments. The only real downside is that it won't work if you have some software firewall on your computer that doesn't allow you to open up the necessary port. In that case you're pretty much out of luck, and you should probably just look for a new employer - because this one thinks you're a crook.